Music Reviews : New Works Presented by E.A.R. Unit

With its usual combination of intelligence and energy, the California E.A.R. Unit presented a daring but uneven program of recent works Wednesday night in the Bing Theater at the County Museum of Art. It was the final concert this season of its residency there.

Myriad microphones and other electronics created the expected amount of technical difficulties, not to mention a generous amount of reverberation. But overall, the performers approached the music unflinchingly, even if the six pieces produced few surprises or anything out of the ordinary.

One of two world premieres, Mark Waldrep’s “Liquid Fixtures,” processes the sounds of six musicians through a computer in a sometimes dry but carefully wrought study. Difficult to settle into, the austere atonal style challenges the listener at times, but remains largely static and uneventful.

A dialogue between flute accompanied by strings and piano with synthesizers brought out the meticulous crafts of flutist Dorothy Stone and pianist Gaylord Mowrey. Rand Steiger conducted the ensemble confidently.

Paul Lansky’s jazzy “Stroll” for tape and four players anemically satirizes musicians who play in crowded shopping malls. Four E.A.R. Unit members deftly produced the virtuosic pop music licks with an electronically altered recording of crowd noises.

In the world premiere of Greg Fish’s “Apartment 28” for seven musicians, elements of rock music and a commercial atonal style combine in a unique, visceral way. Art Jarvinen rewrote a sonata by Domenico Scarlatti for two synthesizers and tom-tom, creating a sometimes compelling cacophony.

Jarvinen and Stone joined forces for a delicate, Zen-inspired duet in the Los Angeles premiere of John Cage’s “Ryoanji” (1984) for three flutes (two prerecorded) and unresonating percussion instruments. “Dance/Drop”--an arrangement of two movements from David Lang’s vapid, Minimalist “Are You Experienced”--incited little interest.